THIS IS UNOFFICIAL

Newman wins pole at Atlanta: #12-Ryan Newman won the Budweiser Pole for the Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway with a speed of 193.124mph for his 1st pole of 2007, 1st in 22 races, 7th pole at Atlanta and 38th of his career. The rest of the top-10 are #19-Sadler, #48-Johnson, #01-Martin, #24-Gordon, #43-Labonte, #40-Stremme, #5-Busch, #49-Bliss [best of the non Top-35 teams] and #10-Riggs. #00-Reutimann was the highest qualifying Toyota at 24th [4 of 7 Toyota's made the race] and the best Ford qualifier was #99-Edwards who will start 14th. The non-top 35 teams that made the race were: #49-Bliss, #13-Nemechek, #15-Menard, #00-Reutimann, #70-Sauter, #14-Marlin, #83-Vickers and #44-Jarrett [using a past champions provisional]. See the qualifying results below.(3-9-2007)

Some Qualifying Notes:
#55-Waltrip has been excused from his place in the qualifying order as the tea, is repairing damage from a scape of the wall in practice and went out 40th and didn't get any speed up and will miss the race.
#84-Allmendinger also was excused, no idea why, but he went out 37th, as soon as he took the green flag for his first lap, a big puff of black smoke came out the rear of the car and the engine sounded horrible.
(3-16-2007)

a GREEN 'IN' means that team/driver have made the race, NOT in the top 35

a RED 'DNQ' means that team/driver will miss the race, NOT in the top 35

Last driver to make an attempt in BLUE

an 'x' in owners ponts pos and RED driver name means that team is NOT in the top 35 and must make the race by speed, for the first five races, the owners pts position is 2007 points position

Qualifying Order:

SchedQualPos

Car#

Driver

Manu

FinalPracticeSpeed

PracSpeedRank

OwnersPointsRank

1

14

* Sterling Marlin

Chevy

187.171

22

30-x

2

33

* Scott Wimmer

Chevy

187.120

23

none-x

3

70

* Johnny Sauter

Chevy

187.614

16

24-x

4

31

Jeff Burton

Chevy

186.491

29

7

5

99

Carl Edwards

Ford

188.501

8

12

6

16

Greg Biffle

Ford

189.150

2

13

7

44

* Dale Jarrett

Toyota

185.220

45

32-x-PC

8

8

Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Chevy

187.411

18

5

9

4

* Ward Burton

Chevy

185.853

37

38-x

10

13

* Joe Nemechek

Chevy

186.472

30

20-x

11

37

* John Andretti

Dodge

185.263

44

46-x

12

01

Mark Martin

Chevy

187.875

14

28

13

25

Casey Mears

Chevy

185.722

39

15

14

45

Kyle Petty

Dodge

183.279

51

35

15

10

Scott Riggs

Dodge

187.939

12

20

16

5

Kyle Busch

Chevy

188.938

3

10

17

20

Tony Stewart

Chevy

187.881

13

11

18

34

* Kevin Lepage

Dodge

185.127

46

52-x

19

17

Matt Kenseth

Ford

186.975

24

2

20

1

Martin Truex Jr.

Chevy

188.111

11

19

21

36

* Jeremy Mayfield

Toyota

183.929

49

48-x

22

55

* Michael Waltrip

Toyota

185.474

43

56-x

23

84

* AJ Allmendinger #

Toyota

184.911

47

50-x

24

38

David Gilliland

Ford

185.947

36

25

25

9

Kasey Kahne

Dodge

187.513

17

8

26

07

Clint Bowyer

Chevy

188.379

10

17

27

22

Dave Blaney

Toyota

185.480

42

27

28

88

Ricky Rudd

Ford

185.573

40

22

29

42

Juan Pablo Montoya #

Dodge

188.918

4

14

30

96

Tony Raines

Chevy

186.090

34

26

31

78

* Kenny Wallace

Chevy

184.634

48

43-x

32

18

J.J. Yeley

Chevy

187.354

21

30

33

00

* David Reutimann #

Toyota

187.869

15

44-x

34

29

Kevin Harvick

Chevy

187.411

19

4

35

2

Kurt Busch

Dodge

190.091

1

16

36

66

Jeff Green

Chevy

185.741

38

29

37

12

Ryan Newman

Dodge

188.783

5

18

38

83

* Brian Vickers

Toyota

186.416

32

41-x

39

43

Bobby Labonte

Dodge

186.698

27

21

40

21

Ken Schrader

Ford

185.965

35

33

41

15

* Paul Menard #

Chevy

186.434

31

37-x

42

41

Reed Sorenson

Dodge

186.284

33

23

43

48

Jimmie Johnson

Chevy

188.507

7

1

44

24

Jeff Gordon

Chevy

188.398

9

6

45

49

* Mike Bliss

Dodge

186.912

25

47-x

46

19

Elliott Sadler

Dodge

187.411

20

34

47

40

David Stremme

Dodge

188.758

6

32

48

7

Robby Gordon

Ford

186.598

28

31

49

26

Jamie McMurray

Ford

185.548

41

24

50

11

Denny Hamlin

Chevy

186.830

26

3

51

6

David Ragan #

Ford

183.753

50

9

Drivers in RED will be required to qualify on time/speed, not in top 35

Drivers in MAROON will be required to qualify on time/speed, not in top 35BUT has a past champions provisional available if needed, only one is used, so if there are two or more past champs
the driver who has won the championship most recently, gets the spot.

Determining Race Line-Ups - Top 35 Guarantee: At the start of the 2005 season, NASCAR instituted a new procedure for establishing the starting race field in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series [NNCS]. NASCAR revamped the system by simplifying the procedure with teams no longer accruing provisionals throughout the season to gain entry into the starting fields. While starting positions one through 42 in the NNCS still will be determined by qualifying speed, the new system will assure the highest-ranked 35 positions of the NNCS OWNER [not Driver] championship points that have entered the event prior to the entry deadline [usually 13 days before the day of the race] one of those starting positions in the field, providing they have made an attempt to qualify [which usually means the team at least practiced and made an effort to qualify].
The remaining seven positions [36-42] will be assigned to those drivers with the fastest qualifying speeds whose car owners are not among the top 35. The final starting position [43rd] – the champion’s provisional – can be utilized by a car owner whose driver is a current or past NASCAR NEXTEL Cup champion who participated as a driver during the current of previous season and was entered in the event for that owner in that car prior to the entry deadline.
If there is more than one series champion vying for the position, it will be given to the most recent series champion. If the final provisional starting position – 43rd in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup – is not filled by a current or past series champion, it will be assigned to the next eligible car owner according to qualifying results.
Through the first five races of the season for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup, the top 35 in the NNCS of the previous owner championship points entered in the event prior to the entry deadline will be assured one of the 42 starting positions in the field, provided they have made an attempt to qualify. From the sixth race on, the current owner championship points will be used to determine the top 35 each race week. In the event that conditions prevent qualifying from being run, starting positions will be assigned according to the respective series’ current Rule Book.(NASCAR PR)Simple: so the field is set by speed to where the 7th fastest non-top 35 driver is on speed. The any drivers in the top 35 of OWNERS [not drivers points] are placed to the 42nd spot. The 43rd spot is used for the most recent past Cup champion NOT already in the field from being in the top-35 in owners points or one of the seven no top-35. If their is not past champ for the 43rd spot, it goes to the next fastest [8th fastest driver]

What happens if qualifying gets rained out?

If it is the first 5 races of the season, the previous season OWNERS points are used:

#1) - Previous season Owner Points [position 1-35]
#2) - Race winners from the previous and current season not already in the field
#3) - Past Nextel Cup Champions not in by 1 or 2
#4) - Current season Owner Points [Top 35][not in by rules 1-3]
#5) - Current season race attempts ties broken by current owners points standings [not in by rules 1-4]After the 5th race of the season, the current season OWNERS points are used:
#1) - First 35 by current Owner Points
#2) - Last Years Cup Champ or the Event Champion if not already in the field
#3) - Car Owners whose team has won in the previous and current season not already in the field
#4) - Drivers who have won in the previous and current season not already in the field
#5) - Past Nextel Cup Champions not in by 1 thru 4
#6) - Qualifying Attempts with Owners points as the tie breaker
#7) - Qualifying Order Position
(all above apply as long as the team was entered by the entry deadline - usually 7-13 days before the race)